Okay, this is both a generic list and a non-generic one. The generic part is the concept. The non-generic part is the movies on this list. If you look at a typical "Best Horror Movies of All Time List", you'll see the same movies constantly popping up: Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Evil Dead, etc., etc. However, on this list, I'm shaking things up by going the more obscure route. You won't see any of that stuff you always see; you'll actually see some entertaining flicks. Most aren't scary, but all are hugely entertaining (in my opinion). So here we go:

15. 976-EVIL 2: The Astral Factor (1991)
You'll probably remember 976-EVIL 2 from my Top 10 Horror Movies Not On DVD Yet list I did a while back. If you didn't see that list, I'd suggest you do, but in case you didn't, I'll give you the low-down on 976-EVIL 2. An evil college dean is ung the 976-EVIL horrorscope and astral projection to kill young women at his college. Now it's up to Spike (from the first film) and Robin to destroy him and stop the body count. 976-EVIL 2 is an enormously entertaining B-movie popcorn flick from master B-movie director Jim Wynorski. It's funny, scary, action-packed, and even touching. Those expecting a serious-minded horror movie look elsewhere; this does not deliver the goods. However, if you like incredibly fun movies, you'll love this to death and back.
14. Night of the Creeps (1986)
Night of the Creeps is a great throw-back to the old 1950s monster movies. It's your standard alien-creatures-crash-to-earth-and-wreak-havoc plot, only Night of the Creeps spices things up by having them attack a college campus. In 1959, an alien experiment crashes to earth. The experiment is a bunch of slugs that get into your mouth and control you, and they reproduce inde your brain as well. The slugs take over a college kid, and he is kept in suspended animation for the next 27 years, until two college kids release him and the aliens invade the college. Soon, zombies are everywhere and the college kids who released him and the love interest have to fight them off. Creeps, like 976-EVIL 2 is a very fun B-movie that shouldn't be taken seriously. It constantly breaks the fourth wall, with lines like, "Is this a crime scene or a bad B-movie?" The always incredible Tom Atkins plays Detective Ray Cameron, and Atkins has stated that this is his favorite film that he's worked on. Given that this is a B-movie, it's surpring how well-acted and well-written it is. If you haven't seen Night of the Creeps, you really should, and soon.
13. Suspiria (1977)
Suspiria is not a movie. It's almost literally a nightmare. If you are unfamiliar with Dario Argento, you should realize that in his movies, the plot is unimportant. What is important is how Argento tells the particular story. Suspiria is about a girl who goes to a ballet school and finds that it is run by a coven of witches including one of the Three Mothers (three witches who each live in different places of the world), the Mother of ghs. Anyone who angers the witch is soon killed. Yeah, the plot is pretty weak, but Argento makes up for this in spades, ung colorful lighting, great cinematography, creepy visuals, and maybe the scariest horror theme of all time to frighten you. I saw this late one night, by myself, and needless to say, it scared the crap out of me.

12. Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Galaxy of Terror has been accused of ripping off Alien so many times I could puke. Really, the two films barely have anything in common at all. The crew of the ship Quest travel to a distant planet to search for the ship Remus which was sent there and never came back. There, not only do they find the crew of the Remus dead, but also a strange pyramid which seems to be preventing their ship from taking off. They decide to explore the pyramid, and there they find their deepest fears alive and waiting for them...I've always liked the concept of ung people's fears against them, as it makes room for lots of creativity. With this concept, you can have a movie with spiders, clowns, scarecrows, and more for a justifiable reason. Galaxy of Terror takes this concept and makes it awesome. There are some big names in here, such as James Cameron, who was the second unit director. It also stars Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Ray Walston, and, everyone's favorites, d Haig and a pre-Freddy Robert Englund. It's extremely low-budget (being produced by Roger Corman) but manages to look extravagant thanks to James Cameron as the production degner. And who can forget the infamous maggot rape? The only bad part is the confung ending.

11. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
There's a fine line between horror and comedy. While there are several horror-comedies out there, most lean toward horror than comedy, or vice versa. An American Werewolf in London is one of the few films that walks on that line perfectly. It works great as a horror movie, and it works just as well as a comedy. It's about a backpacker named David in the moors of Britain along with his buddy, Jack. The two encounter a werewolf, and Jack is killed while David is only bitten. David soon starts turning into a werewolf. The scenes with the werewolf are all very scary, including the famous transformation scene that won Rick baker an Oscar. The scenes where David Naughton's character interacts with the ghosts of the people he's killed were just as hilarious as the werewolf scenes were scary. I'm sure that after his success with the comedy Animal House, none thought that John Landis could pull off a horror film. Now no one's doubting him for a second.

10. Phantasm (1979)
Phantasm is one of those movies where anything can happen at any time. It's entertaining just to see what crazy thing is going to happen next. Like Suspiria, it looks like a living nightmare, but less surreal. The plot concerns Mike, a teenager who suspects that there are some nister things going on at the local mortuary. Along with his older brother Jody and their ice cream vendor friend Reggie, they try and stop the evil power that is killing off the town. The actng is all great and you really feel there's a relationship between the three unlikely heroes. Director Don Coscarelli certainly doesn't skimp on the gore, with the infamous "ball-drilling" scene. The ending is one you constantly think about long after it's over.
9. City of the Living Dead (The Gates of Hell) (1980)
There's always been a debate about who makes better films: Lucio Fulci or Dario Argento. Neither are bad filmmakers, and both have had their flops (Mother of Tears, anyone?), so I'd have to just like them both equally. However, Fulci churned out this movie. Once again, I saw this late one night and I must admit, I thought it was scary. The plot is as mple as it gets: A priest hangs himself in a cemetery which opens one of the gates to Hell. The dead begin to walk and four heroes must destroy the now resurrected priest and close the gate. The zombies here aren't your typical disease zombies; they're supernatural zombies. They teleport in and out of places and the concept of just walking down the street when a zombie pops out of nowhere is rather frightening. Fulci plays on the most primitive fears, like being buried alive or dying by the hands of a loved one. Of course, just because it's scary doesn't mean it isn't really gory. The crowning moment of this film (and maybe all time) is when a girl regurgitates her entire organ system! Fulci followed this up with the spectacular The Beyond.
8. The Beyond (1981)
Well what do you know...The Beyond! After I saw City of the Living Dead, I never thought Fulci could top it in a million years, but boy, was I wrong! The Beyond is another movie where one of the gates to Hell is opened, this time at a Louiana hotel. Fabio Frizzi's score sets the apocalyptic theme perfectly, and for once, the bleak ending only made things better! A lot of the gore effects are unrealistic, but there's so much eye-gouging, skin-munching, and brain-splattering I never gave a hoot. If you like really gory movies, you'll love The Beyond.
6. Ghost Town (1988)
Ghost Town is another movie that appeared on my Top 10 Horror Movies Not on DVD Yet list, but in case you STILL haven't seen that, I'll tell you about it. Deputy Langley is searching for a misng woman and comes across an abandoned town. He soon discovers that it is literally a ghost town as the spirits of the redents of the town are held captive by a demonic outlaw. Now Langley must defeat the evil villain, rescue the girl, and save the town. Take any Clint Eastwood movie and mix it with Army of Darkness and you get Ghost Town. It's a very enjoyable movie that really deserves your attention.
5. Blood Diner (1987)
One again on my list of horror movies not on DVD yet, Blood Diner is an insane movie of epic proportions. The only way to properly review this movie is to discuss favorite scenes, but the reason these scenes work is because they come completely out of the blue, so I'm just going to let you watch the movie or look some clips up on YouTube. Two brothers who operate a diner (where they serve human meat to unsuspecting customers) plan to resurrect the goddess Sheetar. It's a spoof of H.G. Lewis' 1964 splatter clasc Blood Feast, and it's just hilarious. However, the humor portrayed her isn't for everyone. If the idea of a guy trying to drive his car with both his hands cut off sounds like it could be humorous, you'll really like it.
4. Dead Heat (1988)
While it's mostly an action movie, Dead Heat does deliver the zombie goods for horror fans. Detective Roger Mortis and Detective Doug Bigelow are investigating a series of robberies committed by men who withstood multiple bullets to the chest and seemed fine. While investigating Dante Labs, they're attacked and Mortis is killed. Luckily, Bigelow brings him back with a resurrection machine. Now they have 12 hours to solve the case before Mortis completely decomposes. Treat Williams and SNL regular Joe Piscopo star and Mark Goldblatt (The Ounisher) directs. Piscopo's one-liners are so bad, they border on parodying action movie heroes. The late Vincent Price appears at the end, which automatically makes this a must-see. The make-up effects on the zombies are great, and while the movie's certainly corny at times, it's still highly entertaining.
3. Maniac Cop (1988)
Maniac Cop is a great action-horror movie that fits perfectly in both categories. The film is about a rash of murders around New York City that are being committed by a man dressed like a cop. It has a great cast of BRUCE CAMPBELL, Tom Atkins, Richard Roundtree, and Robert Z'Dar. The action scenes and fights are very well choreographed, even if it's painfully obvious that Bruce Campbell did almost none of his own stunts. Matt Cordell is a great slasher that deserves to have a spot next to Freddy, Jason, and Michael, even if the series didn't have a lot of sequels.
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2. Shocker (1989)
Shocker gets a lot of hate amongst fans, but personally, I love it. If you like rock muc, TV, and slasher movies, you'll love this. I really like all three of those things, so I got a lot out of this. Mas-murderer Horace Pinker is sent to the electric chair, but now not only can he go into any electric device, he can possess other people as well, so he could be anywhere. Now a teen with a telepathic link to Pinker must put an end to his rampage. There's some good acting going on, but Mitch Pileggi is incredible as Horace Pinker. The best part comes when Pinker and the teen duke it out inde a TV, interacting with TV programs like Bride of Frankenstein, war and news footage, and Leave it to Beaver, all set to rock muc!

http://youtu.be/AJ45o5nBbA8

http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/65/MPW-32789
1. Army of Darkness (1992)
Army of Darkness isn't really that much of a horror movie, but nce it's the third in the Evil Dead trilogy, I guess it has to be condered one. Not only is it my favorite horror movie, it's my favorite movie. Period. Ash is sent back in time to a Medieval village with his chainsaw, '79 Oldsmobile, and his trusty boomstick. There he must defeat an army of skeletons and get back to his own time. I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy this; it's just such a fun movie. The special effects are great, the humor works, the fight scenes are great, and Bruce Campbell is great as always. Horror or not, this is a spectacular movie.
http://youtu.be/rI8h2xTiowA

So there you have it. My top 15 favorite horror movies. I know a lot of people are gonna be hating for some of my choices, but that's okay. Nothing you say can sway me. Honorable mentions? Okay...
Maximum Overdrive - AC/DC!
Evil Dead 2 - Almost as good as AOD.
Maniac Cop 2 - Almost as good as the first.
Bubba Ho-Tep - Great plot, great acting, mummy cowboy.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives - Fun sequel.
Two Thousand Maniacs! - Crazy follow-up to Blood Feast.

ObscureCinema101
Tuesday 8/02/2011 at 10:33 PM | 79793

I respect the constency of your list. Blood Diner sounds like its right up my alley.

AgnesItsMeBilly
Tuesday 8/02/2011 at 10:46 PM | 79794

good list. a lot of really awesome flicks, though i think a lot of them are pretty conventional picks (which doesn't bother me, I just expected some more obscure stuff condering the intro paragraph). Suspiria, AOD, Night of the Creeps, Maniac Cop, Creepshow, AAWIL and Phantasm are relatively safe calls; All awesome movies too IMO.

Matt_Molgaard
Wednesday 8/03/2011 at 03:53 PM | 79867

"Roger Mortis" still makes me laugh. So punny.

Suspiria is probably one of the first horror movies where the cinematography really stood out to me. The use of color and light are such a huge boon to this film.
It's honestly probably the first instance where I even noted that in any film at all, and began seeing a film beyond just the actors and their lines.